[IL-Talk] at large minutes for march

[datemeyer at sbcglobal.net]

NFBI At Large Chapter March Minutes

 

March 1, 2026

 

ZOOM Meeting

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

At Large Chapter President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 7:01
PM. Persons in attendance were:

David Meyer, Leslie Hamric, Michelle Ault, Linda Hendle, Bill Reif, Debbie
Pittman, Marilyn Green, Michal Nowicki, Yvonne Agyarko. Jean Johnson, Jemal
Powell, Dennis Devitt, Eileen Truschke, Ken Schadd, Dan Gistenson, and Ember
Thompson.

 

PROGRAM ITEM

 

Debbie Pittman brought to our attention the Double Good Popcorn Fundraiser.
We decided to try our Double Good Fundraiser again. It was suggested that
having more than one store would provide a better turnout. Debbie Pittman
and Marilyn Green will have a store so far. David Meyer made a motion for us
to start it on March 29th going into April 2. Marilyn Green moved and Debbie
Pittman seconded. All those in favor said "Aye" and we will have the
fundraiser on those dates.

 

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE

 

This is Presidential Release 558. for the month of March and is the Chapter
version.

 

The first thing President Mark Riccobono discussed was our National
Convention, which is July 3rd to July 8th, in Austin,Texas. 

Why is the national convention important? President Mark Riccobono thinks
this could be a good topic for the chapters to discuss. Every chapter should
have at least one member attending the  National Convention. The convention
is the supreme authority of the organization and is where the decisions get
made and things get debated. Direction is set for the next year and the
years to come, and the Board of Directors are elected to carry out that
direction.  Our convention is also the largest platform for networking,
training, making connections, and finding resources in our community. Blind
people come from all parts of the world to be at our convention because
there is no other meeting like ours that's blind centered, blind directed,
and at the same time driven by members from local communities all across
this country.

We recognize that one of the reasons to come together at convention is that
we get the benefit of all of us, of our expertise coming together. There's
no way that any one of us could know all of the things or have all of the
connections that are meaningful in the blind community. When we come
together at the convention, it really brings the power and scale of our
membership to the front. We can make those connections so that when we get a
question as a leader in the local community that we're not sure of, we have
more people to call on across the country. This is also an important
platform for us to move our advocacy agenda and show important public
officials and companies that we have power and influence when they have to
stand in front of our convention and answer real questions and give
presentations.

 

They know that we are a constituency that they should be concerned about.
This definitely helps us in all of the other things that we do throughout
the year. President Mark Riccobono  thinks one of the key things is the fact
that we gain so much from being together at convention. We get our
perspectives reset. It's really helpful to be able to talk to blind people
from all parts of the country and realize they are having the same struggles
that they might be having in Baltimore.

We might talk to someone who is on the leading edge of their community and
is just now introducing something that hasn't come to our community yet.
What are they doing about it? How are they doing it?

 

You can find the convention information at:

 nfb.org/convention

 

 That's always going to be your go-to for the latest information about the
upcoming convention. This year, we will be meeting at the JW Marriott in
Austin, Texas,  You can make your room reservations by calling
1-800-627-7468. That number again, 800-627-7468. You can book your room.
Please be sure to give them the Federation's convention booking code, which
is B as in boy, L as in Llama, and the number one. BL1 for booking a room
for the convention. The convention hotel rate is $139.00 for singles and
doubles and $155 for triples and quads. That does not include the sales tax
and local tourism fee that comes out to about a combined 19%. Our convention
has been in Texas a number of times, but never in Austin. It's a really cool
city, really great food, really great music, really great people. President
Mark Riccobono wants to remind us that the hotel does have the right to
charge you a different rate if you do not register for the convention and
show up on our registration rules. By the time this release hits the chapter
meetings on March 1st, registration will be open and available for online
registration, which goes through the end of May. After May, you will have to
register onsite at the convention, probably wait in line and things like
that. The early registration fee this year is $25.00 and the banquet is
$85.00. Those prices will go up at the convention. 

 

Our theme for this year's convention is a play on what the Austin Texas
community has done for a number of decades now. It has marketed itself as
wanting to be uniquely Austin, uniquely true to the culture, people, and
environment in Austin, Texas.

Their marketing slogan for many decades now has been "Keep Austin weird".
Austin has used this as a way to really, truly lean into the local culture,
building pride in the city of Austin, Texas, helping to grow local
businesses and truly being proud of who they are. This is much like what the
National Federation of the Blind has done since our founding in 1940. We've
said that it's respectable to be blind. We're proud to be who we are and to
tackle the world in the way that we do. And that is a very different than
almost everybody else in the world looks at blindness.

 Our convention theme for 2026, "Keep NFB Weird". We are really trying to
lean into being authentically blind centered, blind led and a grassroots
blind organization. This means we're also a very diverse group and we have a
lot of joy in being part of this community. "Keep NFB Weird" gives us some
fun and joyful opportunities to really be proud of who we are as an
organization. Each chapter is encouraged to bring its unique character to
our national convention and to our "Keep NFB Weird" theme for the organized
blind movement this summer.

 

Here are some other things that your chapter should do to prepare for our
national convention. First, discuss who's planning to attend the convention?
Who would like to attend the convention, but is not sure what it means or
how to do it. It's a great opportunity to talk about the Kenneth Jernigan
First Timers Scholarship, Knowing who in the chapter is going to the
convention will allow you to coordinate, share ideas, resources, and also
talk about how you bring ideas back to the chapter. Discuss what some of the
local concerns are in the chapter and areas where the chapter members feel
information is needed from the nationwide network of expertise that we have
in the National Federation of the Blind.

 

 If there are policy issues that local members feel the national
organization should be addressing, it's a great opportunity to get together
and write a resolution and resolutions can be submitted up until the very
early part of June. Remember that in authoring a resolution, there has to be
a proponent who's available to appear in person in front of the resolutions
committee at the convention. It does not have to be the individual or
individuals who authored the resolution, but it does have to be someone
that's prepared to speak on behalf of and defend why the resolution is
needed.

 

There will be many sessions at the convention, the meeting of our membership
committee, other meetings where folks from your chapter can go and get
answers to those questions that may be burning in the minds of the chapter
members. President Riccobono also suggests the chapter should also discuss
how members who aren't going to convention are going to participate
virtually. The agenda will be out well in advance of the convention. Members
who aren't coming to the convention in person can participate in our virtual
experience. The national convention is the most important event of the year
for the Organized Blind Movement.

 

A couple of other things to present to you on this release.  The first has
to do with membership. We're continuing to examine the shared process that
we have for on boarding new members to the Organized Blind Movement. We have
now had a new member process in place for a number of years, and President
Mark Riccobono wants to thank all of those chapters out there who are
implementing our new member process, getting members signed up, getting them
voted into the chapter, and then getting them put into our new member form
at the national level so that we can send them information materials and
their membership coin.

 

We're now evaluating this process and how we can further improve it. And so
starting with the month of March, we will be planning a survey that targets
individuals who are new to the Federation and new being in their first year
of membership. The goal is for us to gather some information, check in with
our new members, and to ensure that we are truly fulfilling on the promise
that we've made to make our organization welcoming, to support new members
on their journey, and to learn about how we collectively, both at the
national level and local level, can do better in that regard. He is telling
us this because this will now be built into our series of emails and on
boarding materials that members get. So new members will be receiving an
email with the link to the survey. We should  let new members know that
during the year they will get some periodic outreach from our national
organization, asking them to fill out a short survey about their experience
and how we can continue to improve it. This data will help us continue to
improve in being the organization that we seek to be, so please help to
promote it amongst our new members. 

 

In regards to Washington Seminar Federation members showed up despite the
challenging weather to really make an impression on the members of Congress
in a way that he thinks we couldn't have even planned for. Our hard work,
and our perseverance has definitely paid off as this Washington seminar did
show real results. Since the end of this year's event, we have gained 12 new
co-sponsors on the Access Technology Affordability Act in the House, five
new co-sponsors on the Access Technology Affordability Act in the Senate,
and four new co-sponsors on the Blind Americans Return to Work Act in the
House.

We are still following up with a number of commitments that members of
Congress made to co-sponsor our bills. If we haven't already submitted all
of our Washington seminar reports on our meetings, President Mark Ricobono
asks us to do so quickly. March is a critical month for increasing our
co-sponsorship on our bills. We know being an election year, that the
calendar will be limited for moving our bills forward.The more co-sponsors
we get, the more possibility there is to advance our agenda in 2026. If we
missed  the great Gathering In activity, we can revisit it and listen to the
audio on our Washington seminar page at:

 nfb.org/washington-seminar.

 

President Mark Riccobono also let us know  that on that page is a special
recording of the distinguished legislative award that we presented to
Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland as part of that gathering, a really
remarkable presentation. 

 

President Mark Riccobono does have some Federation family that he will share
on the March 5th  Presidential Release live. I we do miss it, you can follow
up by getting the recording a:

 nfb.org

 

on our publications page through NFBRN, our online constant radio stream, or
through our You Tube channel. We are encouraged  to listen to our live
events.  

 

Our customary endings end in a few jokes so here is one to share:

What falls during March, but never gets hurt?

Well, that would be the rain, of course.

 

After the Presidential Release David Meyer encourages us all to put aside
some time to actively check out the Live Presidential Release which goes
into a little more depth than the Chapter Version.  

 

STATE PRESIDENT'S REPORT

 

Our State President, Marilyn Green, gave us the State Presidential Report.
We were reminded that we have National Convention July 3rd thru the 9th in
Austin, Texas. Our room block is filling up very quickly. If you are
planning on reserving a single or double room which is 139.00 a night the
charge will be around 166.00 per night. You can go to:

 

nfb.org/convention

to register for our National Convention. If you have never been to our
National Convention you can apply for the Kenneth Jernigan Convention
Scholarship for first timers. You can go to our Braille Monitor and find the
article there as well as the link to the form that you fill out. You will be
asked different questions, it will ask you about a mentor, and it could be
very worthwhile to fill our especially if you get a convention scholarship.
If you have been to a National Convention before or if you miss the April
15th deadline to fill it out you can apply for some modest financial
assistance from the State Affiliate. That would be the Chappell Dennis.
There is a link through our web site if you go to: 

 

 nfbofillinois.org

you can do a search for Chappell Dennis. That application will be available
after April 1st. The deadline for Chappell Dennis is May 1st. If you need
any assistance with that Marilyn Green can assist you or she can designate
someone to assist you or you can phone a friend. 

 

We do have our National and State Scholarship Programs. Our National
Scholarship program we will award thirty $10,000.00 Scholarships to thirty
blind or low vision students through out the country. You can go to:

nfb.org/scholarships

 

All of the information is there. You can upload your letter of
recommendation, transcripts, essay, and contact information. You also
schedule an interview with your state president or your state president
designee. Our State President is Marilyn Green so you would contact Marilyn
Green. She will let you know if she needs to assign someone else to do your
interview. The deadline four National Scholarship program is March 31st at
11:59 PM Eastern Time.

 

We do have a State Scholarship program. You can go to: 

 

nfbofillinois,org/scholarships

 

You can fill out the form online. We will need your contact information,
your essay, transcripts, letter of recommendation and things of that nature.
You can use the same information that you used to apply for our National
Scholarships. Emailing is preferable.

 

A difference between the two is that you would interview with one of the
members of the state's scholarship committee. Another difference is that the
deadline for our state scholarship program is April 15th at 11:59 Central
time. If you have any questions about the State Scholarship Program you can
email:

scholarships at nfbofillinois.org <mailto:scholarships at nfbofillinois.org> 

 

If you have any questions about the National Scholarships program you can
email:

 

scholarships at nfb.org <mailto:scholarships at nfb.org> 

 

The State Board did vote to award at least one $5000.00 state scholarship.
If you, or if you know of any Blind or low vision student who will be
attending post secondary school in the fall please let them know. The person
does have to live in Illinois or be going to school in Illinois.

 

We also have our NFB BELL programs coming up. NFB BELL stands for Braille
Enrichment, Literacy and Learning. We will have a program in Springfield,
Illinois, July 13th through the 17th and it is a one week residential
program. The families are housed at a hotel at the expense of our Affiliate.
We will have our Chicago NFB BEll. This program is a two week weekday
program and we partner with the Chicago Lighthouse July 20th through July
31st. These programs are great opportunities  for students between the ages
of 4 to 12 to practice over the summer a lot of the skills that they don't
get or don't want to lose over the summer. It will have Braille Skills,
Independent Living Skills, travel and also meet a network of other blind
students as well as adult blind mentors. If you know of anyone that you
think may be interested . The student does not have to live in Illinois, we
have taken students outside of Illinois.For any questions regarding our NFB
BELL program you can reach out to Debbie Stein at:

dkent5817 at att.net <mailto:dkent5817 at att.net>  

or Tasabih, also know as Abbu at:

 

tasabih.elfaki at gmail.com <mailto:tasabih.elfaki at gmail.com> 

They are our coordinators for our BELL programs and they can answer any
questions from you.

We also have our STEM2U program coming up it will be on August 15th at the
Hyatt near Lisle hotel which also is our State Convention hotel. Our NFB
Stem2U is a day program this year. We offer this for students from 3rd thru
8th grade but that is also flexible. This is a great opportunity for blind
and low vision students to learn that stem, science, technology, engineering
and math is for everyone. Our Coordinators this year are Olivia Cichowlas
and Alaula Sprecher If you have any questions you can reach out to Olivia or
Alaula. Olivia;s email is:

 

cichowlas.olivia at gmail.com <mailto:cichowlas.olivia at gmail.com> 

 

You can also email Debbie Stein and Debbie can answer any questions.

 

Our face to face board meeting will be the following day on August 16th. The
board meeting will begin at 9:00 AM and we will break for lunch around noon
for about half an hour. We will come back in to session and we usually
adjourn somewhere around 3:00 PM.

 

Our State Convention will be October 23rd to October 25th in Lisle, Illinois
at the Hyatt. More information will be going out as we get closer to
convention time. Our agenda will go as it went last year. Friday afternoon
we will have some activities. W will start at 4:00 PM with resolutions. We
hope to go right into general sessions at 5:00 PM. We will adjourn our
general sessions around 6:30. Then we will have NFB got talent which is a
fundraiser. for the Affiliate. After Breakfast, on Saturday, we will have
programming all throughout the day. We do hope to keep the same format as
last year with the exhibit hall. We will start our afternoon with general
sessions, take a break around 2:30 and come back at 3:00 PM for our business
meeting. Take a break at 5:00. Have some hospitality at 6:00 PM and our
Banquet at 7:00. We will adjourn the banquet between 9:00 and 10:00 and have
some hospitality after that. On Sunday we will have our philosophy
discussion and we are usually out by noon on Sunday.

 

APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY MINUTES

 

Minutes were posted on Il Talk, Iabs talk and NFB NEWSLINE. If anybody who
is new and would like to know more about those listserves please reach out
to David Meyer or anybody who they are comfortable with.

 

David Meyer asked for a motion of approval for the February minutes and
Linda Hendle moved and Bill Reif seconded. All in favor said "Aye" and the
February minutes were approved.

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

We have a new member to be voted in and Ember Thompson was voted in. David
Meyer entertained a motion to welcome Ember as a member of the National
Federation of the Blind. Eileen Truschke moved and Linda Hendle seconded.
All in favor said "AYE" and Ember Thompson was voted in as a new member.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Since Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday in April, we will have our
April meeting on Sunday, April 12th. If you wish to vote in the elections
that will take place during that meeting, please make sure that your member
dues are paid and the member dues are $2.00 a year per member. You can pay
them online at:

 

treasurer at nfbofillinois.org <mailto:treasurer at nfbofillinois.org> . 

 

If you wish to pay another way you can pay by check. The check would be made
payable to National Federation of the Blind of Illinois. They would send it
to 5128 N. Oak Park Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60656. They would make sure to put
in the memo line that it is for At Large Membership dues. If they are
ZELLING it to the Affiliate they would want to put in the memo or the notes
that it is for At Large Membership dues along with your name.  Otherwise
without this information it would be received as a general donation to the
Affiliate.

 

A question was asked that if somebody wanted to look up their status
regarding their membership status can they tell by looking into their member
profile? The answer to that is yes, you can find out this information by
looking into your member profile. We were encouraged by David Meyer to take
a look at our member profile to make sure the information is correct. We can
go to:

nfb.org

and go to Member profile and look up how you are being listed as members.

 

A question was asked if someone paid their membership dues in November or
December last year would they be good for the following year. David Meyer
answered if that was the case you should be good until January of the next
year. It was suggested that if we pay member dues at State convention or
after you should be good for the following year.

 

It was suggested by our State President, Marilyn Green, to check your member
profile. If you paid your dues in November or December of 2025 that would
make you a member through the end of 2026. If you notice that you are not in
the status that you believe you should be in, please email Marilyn at:

president at nfbofillinois.org <mailto:president at nfbofillinois.org> 

and she can look into it.

 

David Meyer reminded us if we intend to run for office or a board seat in
April to please have someone nominate you. All seats are open. If you wish
to run again or even if you don't it would be nice to let David know. If
anybody is new and would like to run for something he would like to know as
well. His email is:

datemeyer at sbcglobal.net <mailto:datemeyer at sbcglobal.net> 

 

His phone number is 708-606-7091

 

Meeting was moved to adjourn by Bill Reif and Marilyn Green seconded. All in
favor said "AYE" and the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Michelle Ault

Secretary/Treasurer